The 1928 Texas Almanac and State Industrial Guide Page: 214

                                
Our land holding organization makes it
possible for you to buy land down here
in the Lower Rio Grande Valley, on
reasonable and convenient payments.
We cultivate your land, grow your
nursery stock, plant your trees and
bring them to production.  We pick
your crop; then the Texas Citrus Fruit
Growers' Exchange, our selling or-
ganization, markets your crop for you
on a co-operative basis. (This year the
Exchange   is netting  its  growers
around $2.00 per crate).

JOHN H. SHARY,
President

All this is assured the buyer by con-
tracts.
TEXASWEET Grapefruit (the trade
name of our product) has already won
an enviable reputation over the coun-
try.  And in the "Magic Valley" are
produced the  best  grapefruit  and
oranges, for here on SHARYLAND
is the proper soil, high and well-
drained, and an assured water supply
for irrigation from the silt-laden wa-
ters of the Rio Grande.

Wouldn't you like a profit-paying interest   L.M.OLMSTED,
in  "Sharyland,"  as we call this tractG       e r   Ma    er
Write today for further information.        General Manager.

SOUTHWESTERN LAND CO.

Jefferson Hotel, Dallas, Texas

Mission, Texas

at Lindale afford a market for this pro-
duction.
Texas Strawberry Crop.

Yea
1926
1925
1924
1923
1922
1921
1920

Acreage. Prod'n (Qts.). Value.
1,080   1,642,000  $450,000
980   1,078.000   194.000
1,140   1,368,000   282,000
900    1,350,000  256.000
630     983.000    226.000
520     749,000   217,000
400     624,000    81,000

TOMATOES.
The principal tomato producing region
of Texas centers around Jacksonville in
Cherokee County and Tyler in Smith
County. There is an annual area of about
10,000 acres, with a production of close
to a million crates. The tomato grown is
entirely for table use, and it comes on the
market in May and June immediately
after the close of the early tomato season
in the sub-tropical sections, but prior to
the beginning of the movement from the
Middle States. Like the blackberry in-
dustry which is located in Smith County
a short distance from the north end of the
tomato growing region, the tomato busi-
ness has been built up deliberately by
farmers and their backers in an effort to
get away from dependence upon cotton
as a money crop. The tomato growing in-
dustry in this section began about a
quarter of a century ago and it has
gradually developed until it has become
one of the notable table stock tomato
producing areas of the country.
There is also an appreciable early to-
mato production from   the lower Rio

Grande Valley and other South Texas ir-
rigated sections.  This crop comes to
market usually immediately ahead of the
Jacksonville-Tyler crop.
There is little if any production of to-
matoes in Texas for canning, manufac-
ture of catsup and similar purposes. Most
of this stock in the United States comes
from the Middle and Northern States, and
is harvested during the summer months.
It is held by some authorities that sum-
mer production of tomatoes in Texas is
not practicable; others contend that a
profitable  manufacture  stock  tomato
growing industry could be built up if
farmers were assured of a market, which
would mean the establishment of canning
and   tomato   products  manufacturing
plants in the State.

Texas Tomato Crop.
Production
Year-              Acreage.   (crates).
1926  .............. 13,300    1,277,000
1925  .............. 10,780     884.000
1924   ..............  9,540    868,000
1923  ..............  6,600     574.000
1922  .............. 12,500     956,000
1921............... 8.730      1,032,000
1920   ..............  6,660    551,620

Value.
$3,620,000
2,316,000
1,979,000
1,401,000
1,893,000
2,082.000
1,445,000

WATERMELONS AND CANTALOUPES.
Watermelon growing is widely distrib-
uted in Texas, extending from the lower
Rio Grande Valley to the Panhandle and
from Texarkana to El Paso, with very lit-
tle intervening country that does not
produce a   very  good quality  melon.
Though the loam and clay soils grow a
marketable melon the sandy lands excel.

214                   THE TEXAS ALMANAC.
BE A TEXAS CITRUS FRUIT GROWER
-and Stay at Home
You Don't Have to Leave Your Present Busi-
ness to Grow Grapefruit and Oranges for Profit.

I.

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